


(spoiler)

by Liliet



Category: Slayers (Anime & Manga)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-11-17
Updated: 2014-11-17
Packaged: 2018-02-25 19:23:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,472
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2633399
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Liliet/pseuds/Liliet
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Lina Inverse finds herself without magic and limping. What will she make of her life without anything she is used to?</p>
<p>(will edit title later, once I get to the part where it's not a spoiler. It's literally the next scene, so soon)</p>
            </blockquote>





	(spoiler)

***

 

Lina was sitting on the stairs of the royal Seyruun hospital, once again trying to reevaluate what happened. She suspected she should be reacting much more than she actually was, and it was mildly puzzling.  
She killed that mazoku, or whatever it was - she wasn't even sure if that abomination actually was a mazoku or something else, and Xelloss wasn't around to tell her. But she got her magic sealed - either permanently or just for a long time, she wasn't sure, and nobody else she talked to about it was - and her leg damaged in a way healing magic couldn't overcome, countered with the remnants of dark power that caused the wound. The healers at the hospital assured her the leg would most likely eventually - give or take a couple of years - heal on its own, if she didn't strain it too much. And clarified that wandering around the country on foot, not to mention fighting and jumping around, counted as straining. And further clarified that it means she shouldn't do this, if she ever wants to be able to run without being in pain.  
Lina did want that. She wasn't sure how much she would be worth on the roads without her magic, anyway; she had something of a preview with monthly cycle when her magic also barely worked, and it meant that one in four weeks she tried to stay somewhere safe and not get in too much trouble. And relied on her swordplay - which she shouldn't use if she wanted her leg to heal now - and Gourry's help, if she still did.

Amelia offered her to stay at the palace, in some position that Lina was sure would suit her interests and what she felt like doing at any given time the most. The position that would really translate to "Amelia's friend", even more so than that of Zelgadiss, Amelia's permanent by this point bodyguard. Of course, rumors generally agreed that "friend" was something of an understatement of their relationship, but nobody dared to ask. Lina could if she wanted, but she didn't really care what, if anything, they did in privacy of their bedroom. That's the point of privacy, after all, it doesn't concern anyone else.  
Amelia offered Lina her help, even insisted on it, but Lina still refused. Something about the idea of being a walking decoration, everyone around knowing what she used to be but couldn't anymore, telling stories about her, staring, whispering, trying to suppress pity - something about this made Amelia's offer not really an option. Lina has already gotten a preview of it - quite a few people visited her in the hospital while her leg recovered from "in constant unbearable pain when not medicated" to "only hurts if you step on it". She supposed the novelty would eventually wear off, but... This still was something she knew for a fact she didn't want.  
Gourry, sensitive as ever to her mood and unspoken desire to, for once, not have a bodyguard always eager to help with every little thing she needed, left to, as he said, visit his family. He never told Lina anything about them (not that she asked much), not even mentioned anything other than that the Sword of Light was an heirloom, and he didn't tell anything as he was leaving, either.

Amelia finally appeared from around the corner, leading a fine dapple gray hourse. Well, Lina assumed the horse was fine, knowing Amelia and her perfectionist streak - not that it would be easy to find a non-fine horse in royal stables. She was just grateful it wasn't a huge white royally-looking stallion, as she was sure Phil would try to insist on.  
She'd never before owned a horse. Not that she couldn't afford one, but the poor animal wouldn't really have a long life expectancy, not with Lina's occupation, and without a horse she could always fly if she wanted to get somewhere really fast. A horse would be more or a burden in her daily life, really.  
That is, in her former daily life.

Farewells were both too fast and too slow, both girls mumbling and looking past each other and failing to say anything meaningful or really anything at all. Lina felt relief when she finally managed to mount a horse - not an easy task with a hurting leg, especially when you are not used to it - and rode away, Amelia not attempting to follow her.

 

***

 

As Lina left Seyruun behind and adjusted to riding on horseback, remembering long-forgotten lessons, her mood gradually improved. Sun was about to be hidden by gray coulds from the west, birds were singing and rabbits were rustling in the bushes along the road. The world around her was living, and she was a part of it, as alive as ever, which was really more than she could be sure of every time she got into a new trouble. She wasn't going to do that for at least some time now and she had no clue how to do it; this "normal life" thing was promosing to be a fine adventure.

The sun wasn't even overtaken by clouds yet when it began raining. Normally, Lina didn't have anything against a good rain; it was weird to realize that this time she wasn't able to easily keep herself dry or at least dry herself as soon as she wanted. Cape, she remembered, that's what capes are for. She had one, too. Too bad it didn't have a hood and wasn't actually suitable for anything other than dramatically flapping in the wind; she actually had a habit of clasping it off for fights. It was absolutely useless, she realized with grim amusement.  
This was the next thing she was going to do when she got to some civilization. First, dry herself. Second, eat. Third, buy herself a good practical cloak.  
Practical clothes; she barely remembered what the word meant, rating as that pretty much everything up from Naga's bikini armor. And Naga would have argued for her armor's practicality too, it being suitable for her particular purpose of getting the eyes of almost every guy and quite a few girls around her glued to her body. Lina was never comfortable with that, so her clothes usually at least had the practical quality of "not revealing", and some others - not a skirt, not too wide or flowing so it wouldn't get stuck on every branch and wasn't easy to grab. Lina found herself wondering if in this new period of her life she was going to start finding skirts practical; a lot of women did, apparently, even Amelia? Lina thought maybe she should have asked her what the appeal of skirts was, then regretted the thought.

By the time she reached outskirts of a small town she'd never been to before, she was chilled to the bone, wet and angry. Someone else would have better described themselves as "miserable"; Lina wasn't about to. Not because of the rain, not ever.  
Her gaze was as quick as ever to single out a small but comfy-looking tavern. Good; warming herself and eating first, worrying about other stuff later. Practical clothes, probably a job? What could she even do that did not involve magic nor running around? The world was about to find out. And if it was something that involved regularly getting wet without any way of drying yourself off quickly, the world was also about to regret it.

The dining room fulfilled the promise of the facade, being cozy, warm and buzzing with almost quiet talk and laughter. Almost; Lina winced at someone loudly banging on the table. Normally, this would be a coin toss between her coming up to that someone to teach them manners and just ordering her food without being bothered, but now she didn't have a choice, did she? Well, there was a chance that someone would just apologize, being a decent person or being intimidated by just her outfit, but Lina wasn't in a mood for bluffing right now. She liked being confident in success of whatever she tried; either success or a failure so spectacular the resulting bang would be worth it anyway. Getting laughed off and not having either magic or Gourry to make them regret it was not a spectacular perspective.

These thoughts did not improve her mood, nor did the fact all tables close to the fireplace were taken. Well, _this_ obstacles was not going to see her backing off; she came to the table with just one figure in a dark cloak at it and dropped her bag perhaps a bit louder than politeness demanded.  
The woman - it was a woman, with short cropped gray hair and weathered face - looked up from her drink and curtly nodded. Lina did not return the greeting. She didn't seem to mind.


End file.
